On August 25th 1949, Salifou Keïta was born in Djoliba in Mali, a village on the banks of the Niger river. In this heartland of the Mandingan empire, inhabited by several tribes and where several languages are spoken (Bambara, Malinké, Soninké), the birth of an albino baby - ethnically black but with white skin - was considered scandalous. It was believed the baby possessed dangerous powers, especially as his family were direct descendants of the Empire's thirteenth century founder. So Salif's father sent him away with his mother. But the optimistic predictions of a religious chief caused him to go back on this decision.  

His childhood was a lonely one. Rejected by other children because of the colour of his skin, he was often the butt of jokes.

Even his father never spoke to him for years. An excellent student, he shut himself up in his studies and, fascinated by music, learnt singing by listening to the "griots". Both poets and singers, these minstrels have handed an oral tradition of family sagas and epic royal tales down through the centuries. Working on his father's farm, he developed his powerful voice: sent regularly out into the maze fields to scare away monkeys and birds, he spent whole days shouting and vociferating.  

Salif and Kanté

Salif wanted to become a school teacher, but was declared unfit because of poor eyesight caused by his albinism. So he decided to become a musician instead. This choice, considered unfit for a prince, was taken very badly by his family. Playing music and singing were exclusively reserved for the "griots", the hereditary cast of musicians. By deciding to become a musician, Salif was disobeying ancestral rules. So he left home in 1968 and went to live on the streets of the capital. He sung in the cafés and markets, where his exceptional voice, high-pitched yet powerful, left no one indifferent.

A saxophonist, Tidiane Koné, spotted the young singer and invited him to join his group, the Rail band of Bamako, which played at the hotel restaurant at the railway station. Each hotel had its own orchestra which played in the evenings. Thanks to Salif Keïta, the Rail Band became a huge crowd draw. He soon became the star singer, with a repertoire comprised principally of traditional songs sung and arranged in a modern way.  

In 1973, he left the Rail Band for the Ambassadors, another hotel band led by guitarist and singer Kanté Manfila and including Nigerian, Malian and Senegalese musicians. Around 1975, a young Guinean, Mory Kanté, join the band. The hotel, the Bamako Hotel, had an international clientele and the band's repertoire included Afro-Cuban, Anglo-Saxon and French numbers, a practice in vogue in Africa at that time. The Ambassadors toured successfully all over West Africa and Salif Keïta and Kante Mafila moved to Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast, and a town more musically active and technically better equipped than Bamako. The group changed its name to the Ambassadeurs Internationaux.  

It was with them in Abidjan in 1978 that Salif Keïta recorded the album, "Mandjou" . The album was an enormous success, largely due to the title song, which became an African standard overnight. In this key song of his repertoire, Salif Keïta paid hommage to the Mandingan people and in particular to its President at that time, Sékou Touré, who the previous year had made him a member of the Guinéan Ordre National. On this record, the public discovered the singer's characteristic organ guitar saxophone sound.  

Jungle drums in Montreuil

In December 1980, Salif Keïta and Kante Manfila, financed by a malian businessman, flew to America where they stayed three months to record two albums, "Primpin" and "Tounkan". But it was in France that Salif Keïta really wanted to work. Constantly assimilating new influences, the fusion of musics and cultures fascinated him. In March 84, he left Abidjan and returned to Bamako. Salif's father was getting old and he wanted to get close to his family again. That year, the European public discovered him at the Musiques Metisses Festival in Angoulème, where his performance was hailed as a revelation.

Following this success, he moved to the Paris suburb of Montreuil, heartland of the malian community in France, where he lived modestly and discreetly. Before finally finding a record label that was right for him, he spent several years playing at parties and traditional celebrations. In 1985, Manu Dibango called on him, along with several other African singers, to record the single "Tam Tam pour l'Afrique", in aid of the victims of the famine in Ethiopia.  

In 86 and 87 the African music scene in Paris began to really take off and a young Senegalese producer, Ibrahima Sylla, provided Salif Keïta with the means to record his first album since 1981, Soro. Six of the tracks were arranged by French duo, François Bréant and Jean-Philippe Rykiel, and "Soro"' s Mandinguan blues-rock fusion was a international hit.  

He went back on tour again, and in July 1987 appeared at Francofolies festival in la Rochelle. Then, in October, after a tour of Réunion, he was invited to England, to an enormous concert organised in honour of Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday. Surrounded by Anglo-Saxon and African stars (Youssou N'Dour, Ray Lema), he became one of the pillars of "World Music" overnight. Around that time he signed with Island Records, whose director was Chris Blackwell.  

We not move

In February 1988, he gave a string of concerts at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris. He also began writing film music, including the score of "Yeelen" a film by Malian Souleymane Cissé. The following year, he released his second French album, "Ko-Yan" (Quelque chose se passe ici). Although as rooted in the Mandinguan tradition as ever, the album had a definite jazz orientation. Very concerned about the socio-economic problems of his immigrant countrymen, he sang about them in the track, "Nous pas bougé" , encouraging them to not allow themselves to be expatriated and to stand up for their rights. He went on tour to promote the album throughout Europe and then in Japan, Africa and the Caribbean.  

The tours continued in 1991. At the end of June, his third French, Amen, came out, produced by American jazz pianist Joe Zawinul with prestigious guests including Wayne Shorter, Carlos Santana and Malian Cheikh Tidiane Seck on keyboards. The outstanding track on the album, again a fusion of musical cultures, is undoubtedly the love song "N'bife". At the end of the year, Salif Keïta and his musicians left on a long international tour, with a two-month break in West Africa in the spring of 92. The following summer, he appeared at numerous festivals, including the Womad (World of Music Arts and Dance) in England. On November 9th, he played for the first time at Olympia, the first venue of a tour of Germany and France.  

In 92, the Malian singer wrote the score of a film by Patrick Grandperret, "L'Enfant Lion", in which - supreme irony - he played the part of a "griot".  

In 94, he toured West Africa and South Africa, and his most famous early songs were re-released in "69-80", a compilation of the Ambassadeurs period.  

Mandingan Blues

In 1995 the "Folon" album marked a return to tradition. Produced by Wally Badarou from Benin, the album was arranged by "Soro" 's mastermind, Jean-Philippe Rykiel.

Keïta, a great defender of panafricanism, sang of the force of his continent in "Africa". There was another homage to Nelson Mandela ("Mandela"), and the disc was dedicated to albinos, for whom he had founded a charity organisation, SOS Albinos, in 1990. His young albino niece, Nantenin, is on the album cover. But Western influences were also present on the album, especially the blues, Salif Keïta's great love, but also salsa and zouk.  

In December, Keïta gave a concert in Bamako, and then went on tour in France from March 96 onwards. Much in demand at the festivals, he toured Europe all summer. But more and more often, Salif Keïta was returning to Mali. Finally, he left France for good, although he kept on a small flat in Montreuil. He wanted the young generations to benefit form his international experience. He opened a recording studio so that musicians could record in Mali and therefore counteract musical piracy, rife throughout Africa. In December 1997, he began producing young local artists in his Bamako studio, Wanda Production. "N'tin Naari", an album recorded by the young Malian singer Fantani Touré, was the first international release of the Salif Keita presents... series. After this success Keita invited another rising African star, Rokia Traoré, into his studio. The young Malian singer, who had recently won the "Découverte-RFI 97" award, recorded a cover version of "La Cour des Grands" (the official football anthem performed by Youssou N'Dour and the Belgian singer Axelle Red at the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Paris on 10 June 1998).

Then, in 1997, Salif Keïta brought out, "Sosie", an album of entirely French music. His label, Island, declined to produce the disc, deeming it too far from his usual repertoire. The singer found a small Danish label to produce the album. The Malian did African cover versions of standards by Maxime Le Forestier, Michel Berger, Jacques Higelin and Serge Gainsbourg, revisited with kora and balafon arrangements.

"Papa"

Two years later, in May '99, Salif Keita made a guest appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, lending his support to the one solitary African film presented at that year's festival. Keita made it clear that his presence at the festival was a militant statement not just a social visit announcing, "I'm afraid that supporting the film industry is not one of Africa's greatest priorities."

In June of that year Salif Keita released a brand new album entitled "Papa". The title was chosen as a kind of personal tribute to his 11 children (aged between 3 and 20), but also as a homage to his own father who died in 1995. Produced by Vernon Reid, guitarist from the American band Living Colour, Keita's new album was recorded between studios in Bamako, Paris and New York. The new album included a particularly memorable duet with the singer Grace Jones as well as some amazing contributions from the famous kora-player Toumani Diabate. On 11 and 12 June 1999 Salif Keita brought the house down when he performed at la Cigale in Paris. The singer then embarked upon a major French tour.

In 2001 Salif Keita opened a club in the Eastern district of Kalaban in Bamako. The 200-seat venue was named "Moffou" after a rather forgotten musical instrument resembling a one-hole flute that the artist used to play when he was a child. In parallel with this new business venture, the African musician brought out a new album, also entitled Moffou. Completely at odds with "Papa", to which producer Vernon Reid had definitely given a Rock’n Roll touch, "Moffou" found Salif exploring a more mellow sound thanks to acoustic arrangements by the hand of famous guitarist Kante Manfila. Considering life with more detachment than he had used to, Salif penned more optimistic lyrics even if they continue to reflect his critical mind.

During the following months, the singer embarked upon a new tour and took part in many festivals including the Vieilles Charrues in Carhaix in July 2003. Then he flew to the United States for another series of gigs and performed in New York on July 27th. The concert proved to be a huge sell-out success, cementing Salif Keita's reputation in the United States.

Keita's album "Moffou" was also a big hit, selling over 100,000 copies in France and 150,000 in international export (mainly in Europe and the United States). Following  Martin Solveig's remix of the track "Madan", which took European club dancefloors by storm, Keita's record company decided to launch their own remix version of "Moffou", collaborating with electro producers and artists who had already experimented with Afro-electro fusion such as Osunlade, Doctor L. and Frederic Galliano. The album "Remixes from Moffou", released at the beginning of 2004, extended Salif Keita's popularity to a new 'trendy youth' market via the club circuit and the radio airwaves.

2004 proved to be a major turning-point in Salif Keita's professional and personal life. For it was that year that the singer decided to return to live in Mali on a permanent basis. To celebrate his return, Keita organised three mega-concerts in Bamako (18 - 21 November 2004) and a special day of debate (on the theme of "Development of the African music sector and its impact on the campaign against poverty, AIDS and other pandemics in Africa.") Keita's position as a militant artist, capable of organising festivities and citizen action, was soon put to good use by the United Nations. On 19 November 2004, the singer was made a U.N. Ambassador for Sport and Music.

At the end of November 2004, Keita was involved in another headlining cause, acting as a frontman for the fourth edition of the "Africa Fête" festival in Dakar (which, that year, addressed urgent issues of production facilities and the problem of music piracy in Africa). On 12 December 2004, Salif Keita arrived in South Africa to receive a special 'lifetime achievement' Kora Award.

2005 proved to be no less event-filled. In April, Salif Keita and Kante Manfila teamed up to release (for the very first time in France) an album that had been recorded in the 1980s, during their time with Les Ambassadeurs. Commercially speaking, the album was not a huge success. But it paved the way to the two friends working together on future projects. Meanwhile, Keita devoted much of his time and energy to renovating his Wanda Studio and installing the latest recording equipment. (This followed problems with the album "Papa", where the singer had recorded part of the album in Bamako, then arrived in New York only to find that the material was unusable because of incompatibility between recording systems.)

2005 : "M’Bemba"

Salif Keita made a major comeback on the recording front at the end of October 2005 with his new album, "M’Bemba" ("The Ancestor"). This album found the singer exploring Malian history and tracing his music back to its princely origins. "M'Bemba", a rich mix of traditional Mandingo sounds and acoustic fusion, included an interesting smattering of Spanish melodies. The album, which was entirely recorded in Bamako in Keita's Wanda Studio, received rave reviews from the critics and proved to be a big hit in Africa, Europe and the U.S.

Meanwhile, via his company Wanda Productions, Salif Keita continued to support an increasing number of young up-and-coming artists from Mali and the neighbouring region. The singer embarked on a major European tour in the autumn of 2005, performing at Le Zénith in Paris on 15 December with an all-star cast of musicians. He returned to Mali for New Year's celebrations, playing a series of concerts in his club, "Moffou de Kalabancoro" (22 - 31 December 2005).

Salif Keita performed at the Olympia, Paris, on 23 May 2006. In 2007, the singer decided to focus on politics and participate as a candidate in the Malian legislative elections.

His wide-ranging political activism is very much in evidence on "La Différence", released in November 2009. On this album he once again evokes the tragic fate of albinos in Africa. It is a cause that has always been close to his heart, as an albino himself and as the founder of the Salif Keïta Global Foundation for albinism, created in 2001.

The album also provided him the opportunity to denounce the new dynasticism that seems to have taken hold in a number African countries, as well as the pollution problems notably concerning the River Niger  ("Ekolo d'amour" and "San Ka Ka"). 

Musically, this largely acoustic record is marked by an Arabic influence. It features instruments such as the oud and Arabic chord structures, as well as the trumpet-playing of the Lebanese Ibrahim Maalouf. Recorded in Beirut,  Los Angeles, Bamako and Paris, "La Différence" is not only a striking fusion of oriental music and mandingo, it also boasts an impressive roster of musicians, including Seb Martel, Vincent Segal and Bill Frisell, among others.

In early 2010, the Malian singer kicked off a tour of France and Europe.

January 2010

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